Ssh…don’t tell anyone about this place. It’s a real gem and a secret cycling centre of excellence – Nidderdale. With the long and winding ascent – or descent – of Greenhow Hill, coupled with Lofthouse Bank, it has climbs to match anywhere in the Dales. This long and narrow working dale is also blessed with […]
Specialist operator H+I Adventures is leading the charge in e-mountain bike travel, set to be the big trend in adventure travel for 2020. The international mountain biking experts will be launching five new battery-assisted tours for the year ahead, offering riders experiences from pedalling through the deserts of Namibia and Alpine descents in Switzerland, to […]
If you’re cycling the Stelvio pass, then stay in the area and tackle these two epic climbs during your stay. Both the Gavia and the Mortirolo Passes are full of history and pain, being well known within the Giro. Yes, this is a tough ride, but it will reward you with epic views and a […]
Being a simple community of like minded riders from around the globe, it’s great to read about each others adventures. Here’s an awesome trip in an area that we know well, taken by our friend in Spain, Laura 🙂 If you like adventure, you’ll love this trip and want to ride in this beautiful mountain […]
Quad lock is simply awesome. Okay, that’s all you need to know, so I’ll go out riding again.
It truly is that simple. For all the multitude of phone mounts available, we’ve used quad lock on extended cycle tours, allowing us to be guided by google maps, on road bikes as we record Strava and on mountain bikes too. It’s secure and easy to fit and easy to remove on the fly, allowing you to take pictures from your phone easily.
The numerous mounts mean that Quad Lock fits quickly to any bike, with the ‘out front’ mount being super secure and well made. The Mount Pro is a simple system that swaps between bikes seamlessly and quickly due to strong rubber O rings and stays firmly in place on the roughest of trails. Using it on some of the toughest mtb trail centres in the UK, it allowed us to control our GoPro app as we filmed the routes. It’s often difficult when riding when control apps that control other things, but Quad Lock makes it all very simple to access.
The desk mount has also been a useful addition, as we filmed for social media on the phone and whilst using Cycle rollers and watching YouTube – well, why not. Everything from Quad Lock is well thought out, stylishly designed and superbly engineered to last along time. And when the rain starts falling, the crystal clear rain poncho slips neatly over the phone to keep it safe and allows you to keep functioning, even in the rainy Yorkshire Dales and Lake District where we test lots of review products.
Fastening the Quad Lock to your bike is simple and requires just a multi tool. The brand have a variety of spares available on the website for the occasions where you might lose odd pieces. I recently lost a bolt and thankfully their well developed help section on the website told me exactly which size and type of bolt that i needed to replace it.
It’s not often that you can say a product is: tough, ultimately engineered, stylish and performs superbly, but the Quad Lock system does it all extremely well. It’ll look good and last you a long time, so what’s not to like.
Images and article by Larisa Chinces & Robert Thorpe
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Day 6 Larisa and Robert So it is our last day cycling, and I was both excited and sad at the same time. We had all become great friends during our tour, led by Tamas, with Peter and Laszlo keeping us supplied with water, coke and lots and lots of humour. Having a small group […]
Day 4 Larisa & Robert Setting off from our hotel with a larger peloton, today was to be a day of twisting roads, climbing and history, as we took a long flat road towards the rising countryside, passing a series of wildfowl protected lakes for birds, where it was time to do a little work, […]
It’s 40 years since Freddie Mercury and Queen sang ‘I want to ride my bicycle’ and these lyrics are now coming alive, as people all over the world are taking to two wheels in the new cycling revolution. It’s not just about cycle racing too, with families, commuters, and leisure cyclists joining in the new […]
Larisa Chinces, deputy editor
I’m not an expert of cycling, neither road cycling nor mountain biking, but one thing I am sure about and that thing is that I love cycling from the depth of my heart! I became addicted to cycling 4 years ago. I started with mountain biking and I immediately fell in love. After 1 year I hopped on the road bike and loved it too. Starting cycling was a life changing experience.
Cycling in Romania is a delight. There are a lot of beautiful trails or roads in the mountains and in the forests. The nature is wild, and not modified by mankind. I live in the heart of Romania, Transylvanian region, in a small town named Sibiu. The city is surrounded by mountains which are not so far away and very accessible to get there by car or bus.
We believe that this is one of the great rides in Europe. We’ve split the gpx files,so that if you want to, you can simply ride out to the start of the climb. Adding the two files together will however produce an awesome road cycling trip.
Distance and ascent
Once you arrive at the base of the road for the Transfagarasan itself, the journey ahead is up to you; here’s the route profile for the climb (below).
Sibiu to start of Tranfagarasan
Tranfagarasan climb
Route
My favorite climb is on the Transfagarasan road to Bâlea Lake. This spectacular ribbon of road was built between 1970 and 1974, and has some of the most historic tourist attractions in Romania nearby. The fortress of Poienari at 1480 metres was built in the 13-14th centuries, extended later by Vlad the Impaler, also known as Dracula. Next is the famous Vidraru Dam, one of the largest dams in the world and in several movies. The glacial lake of Balea,freezes in the cold season, when a church and a hotel made of ice are built each year.
The road itself is approximately 90km long, and it’s a great attraction for tourists, due to it’s breathtaking landscapes, being totally sublime and spectacular for visiting. The route is very special, due to the scenery encountered, with so many dangerous curves that twist and turn and challenge you, high level differences, cliffs and gullies as well as steep waterfalls. The road climbs to an altitude of 2,042 metres (6,699 ft), making it the second highest mountain pass in Romania after the Transalpina.
Riding from the centre of Sibiu, taking in the road and the lakes and forests, makes a great ride of over 140 km, very challenging for a real two day adventure, as part of a Romania Bikecation.
It's a winding road, dotted with steep hairpin turns, long S-curves, and sharp descents. The road is usually closed from late October until late June because of snow. Depending on the weather, it may remain open until as late as November, or may close even in the summer. However, whenever you visit it, the scenery will always be beautiful - it's my spectacular home, my Romania, so visit soon.
Click below for gpx files
Crank it Up!
